WHAT ALL HAPPENED APRIL TO DECEMBER 1979
Find out what all happened April to December 1979

An IRA bomb explodes at the Grote Markt in Brussels. (28. August 1979)

South Africa grants independence to the "homeland" of Venda (not recognised outside South Africa). (13. September 1979)

The first black-led government of Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) in 90 years takes power. (1. June 1979)

Margaret Thatcher becomes the first female Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. (4. May 1979)

Another section of the Sinai Peninsula is peacefully returned by Israel to Egypt. (25. July 1979)

Indonesia is hit with an earthquake that measures 8.1 on the Richter scale. (12. September 1979)

The American space probe Pioneer 11 becomes the first spacecraft to visit Saturn when it passes the planet at a distance of 21,000 kilometres (13,000 mi). (1. September 1979)

Coup d'état of December Twelfth: South Korean Army Major General Chun Doo-hwan orders the arrest of Army Chief of Staff General Jeong Seung-hwa without authorization from President Choi Kyu-ha, alleging involvement in the assassination of ex-President Park Chung Hee. (12. December 1979)

CompuServe launches the first consumer internet service, which features the first public electronic mail service. (24. September 1979)

Bryan Allen wins the second Kremer prize for a man powered flight across the English Channel in the Gossamer Albatross. (12. June 1979)

A package from Unabomber Ted Kaczynski begins smoking in the cargo hold of a flight from Chicago to Washington, D.C., forcing the plane to make an emergency landing. (15. November 1979)

President Zulfikar Ali Bhutto of Pakistan is executed. (4. April 1979)

The Canadian Government of Prime Minister Joe Clark is defeated in the House of Commons, prompting the 1980 Canadian election. (13. December 1979)

The Department of Education Organization Act is signed into law creating the US Department of Education and US Department of Health and Human Services. (17. October 1979)

Greensboro massacre: Five members of the Communist Workers Party are shot dead and seven are wounded by a group of Klansmen and neo-Nazis during a "Death to the Klan" rally in Greensboro, North Carolina, United States. (3. November 1979)

In Dublin, Ireland, Provisional Irish Republican Army member Thomas McMahon is sentenced to life in prison for the assassination of Lord Mountbatten. (23. November 1979)

The MTR, the rapid transit railway system in Hong Kong, opens. (1. October 1979)

The first Gay Rights March on Washington, D.C., the National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights, demands "an end to all social, economic, judicial, and legal oppression of lesbian and gay people", and draws 200,000 people. (14. October 1979)

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines gains its independence from the United Kingdom. (27. October 1979)

The Hastie fire in Hull kills three schoolboys and eventually leads police to arrest Bruce George Peter Lee. (4. December 1979)